January 26, 2011

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Ertai’s Lament and the Great Designer Search 2

by Dredd77

As many of you may know, the Ertai’s Lament crew has been right in the thick of the Great Designer Search 2 this past week, assisting all four of the finalists with fine-tuning their intro decks for Design Challenge #5, “Introductions Please,” in which the aspiring designers are asked to make an intro deck for their set.

Our series chronicling our experiences playtesting the four decks through a gauntlet of precons will begin tomorrow on Quiet Speculation, in our Magic Beyond the Box series, so be sure to check it out!

Also, if you’ve been gollowing the GDS2, you’ll no doubt recognise the name Jay Treat. A top-8 finalist, his earlier elimination hasn’t stopped him a bit (and really, when you’re in a crowd of eight designers amongst over a thousand, why would it?). He’s reached out to Ertai’s Lament to collaborate with him on designing intro packs for his completed set Escape to Muraganda. Be on the lookout for Muraganda-themed articles and journeys into intro pack design here on Ertai’s Lament!

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I know. I know. I’m always the first one to post. I’m sorry. I had a couple questions though. Where do we know Jay Treat from? Isn’t it Jay Kirkman that writes Ertai’s Lament? Also, is anyone going to the pre-release on Friday/Saturday? I still can’t decide whether to play Phyrexian or Mirran. I don’t like infect, but I don’t like Myrs either. Thoughts?

Jay Treat was one of the eight finalists in the Great Designer Search 2. Although eliminated in one of the challenge rounds, he’s continued working on his world Muraganda. Since part of successful lead design is to enlist collaboration, he’s brought me onboard to lend my knowledge of precons to his cause.

I’m going to the prerelease. My preference is Phyrexian, though I may go Mirran as Jimi is coveting a Hero of Bladehold for her Boros deck. For me, I’m not too worries about mechanics, I think the idea is to represent warfare and going for hte story is as fun as anything else.

Ok, now I get it. I didn’t realize the two Jays were collaborating. I did read the article and remember Muraganda though.

You bring up a good point about not worrying about mechanics. I’m actually trying to decide what side to fight with based quite largely upon flavor. For instance, I actually really like Phyrexia and my tweaked Phyrexian deck is one of my favorites. But I also like the idea of fighting for the last remnants of a resistance such as the elves and mountain dwelling creatures. A world made of machines doesn’t totally appeal to me so that’s why I’m loathe to play with any Myr creatures, but I suppose I could still play Mirran and just not include “Myrfolk” in my deck. All my decks tend to center around tribes and themes. It makes the game more fun that way. I also read on the Wizards website that running a 40 card deck might be more beneficial for this tournament. Again, to reduce variability. Interesting.

I am still undecided. I’m a big fan of Phyrexia as far as villains go, but I’m still hoping that Mirrodin wins the war because they’re the good guys. I love elves, and want to get Glissa, but I know I could just trade for either of the prerelease cards, since they’ll be in abundance. =/ I might ask which has been picked more and pick the opposite to give a more balanced experience to all involved.